Watching a quantum material lose its stripes

In quantum materials, periodic stripe patterns can be formed by electrons coupled with lattice distortions. To capture the extremely fast dynamics of how such atomic-scale stripes melt and form, scientists used femtosecond-scale laser pulses at teraher...

In quantum materials, periodic stripe patterns can be formed by electrons coupled with lattice distortions. To capture the extremely fast dynamics of how such atomic-scale stripes melt and form, scientists used femtosecond-scale laser pulses at terahertz frequencies. Along the way, they found some unexpected behavior.